Last year’s Streaming Media Europe event was the most successful ever, boasting a 54% increase in attendance, with nearly 800 attendees from 23 countries and a who’s who of prominent organisations both from within the industry and, more importantly, from the market verticals that use online video and audio communications. For this year’s event, taking place in London on 14, 15, and 16 October, we’ve built on that success to create a programme of intensive conference sessions featuring the best and brightest minds in the online video industry.

Keynotes—Sneak PreviewThis year’s compelling keynote line-up will include speakers from the entertainment and enterprise markets as well as industry experts. Here’s a sneak preview.

Dr. William CooperOn 15 October, Dr. William Cooper of informitv will deliver the opening keynote, "The Online Video Experience: Viewing Into the Future", in which he’ll offer insights into where the delivery of video over the internet is headed. Prior to founding informitv, Cooper was a broadcast journalist and head of interactive at BBC Broadcast, and so he brings "in-the-trenches" experience to his current role as industry analyst.

"The difference in technical quality between broadcast and broadband delivered video is diminishing," says Cooper when asked about the primary trend he’s seeing in online video. "From Hulu in the United States to the BBC iPlayer in the United Kingdom, the quality of user experience that can be delivered over a best efforts broadband connection is astonishing. The distinction between viewing on the computer and the television is less one of display technology and more concerned with the viewing context and the programming content. With an increasing emphasis on broadcast and broadband hybrids, the objective is to blend television and online services."

Guy PhillipsonCooper will be followed by Guy Phillipson, who’s been the CEO of the Internet Advertising Bureau UK since 2005. In his tenure, he’s spearheaded the push for video ad standards and guidelines, and he will be addressing the state of the online video advertising market, the debate over standards, and what’s working and what’s not. Prior to heading up the IAB UK, Phillipson was head of advertising at Vodafone UK and had done marketing for The Marketing Store, Barclays Bank, and the Granada Group.

Below are video interviews we did with Cooper and Wheeler offering a sneak peek at what they'll be talking about in their keynotes. Thanks to ooVoo, we were able to record these transatlantic video chats.

Of the feedback we received about the 2008 event, by far the most notable was a desire for more technical content. This year’s event will have one track devoted entirely to Technology, with the other track covering Business and Content.

WorkshopsIn addition to the discussion and debate in the main conference (15 and 16 October), the event kicks off on 14 October with four 3-hour workshops:• Live Broadcasting for Silverlight and Windows Media Player—Learn how to plan the production workflow and organise your Windows Server infrastructure, as well as when to target Silverlight or Windows Media Player. The session will also address such topics as server-side playlists, configuring proxy servers for intranet delivery, distributing your live broadcast via a CDN, techniques for archiving and distributing the event on demand, and digital rights management.• Encoding H.264 Video for Streaming and Progressive Download—A deep look at key H.264 encoding parameters such as B-frames, profiles, and levels, as well as how to customise encoding parameters for distributing via QuickTime and Flash. After detailing how to operate the H.264-related encoding parameters in tools from Adobe, Apple, Microsoft, Sorenson, and Telestream, it will then provide a brief overview of the respective quality output of these tools. You’ll learn how your encoding tool compares in terms of quality and configurability, as well as how to configure your encoding tool for maximum H.264 quality.• Developing a Rich Video Player for the Adobe Flash Platform—Using ActionScript 3.0 with Adobe Flash CS4 Professional and Adobe Flash Media Server 3.5, you will learn how to develop for dynamic streaming and enhanced seeking while utilising new qualityof-service metrics in Flash Player 10. You will also learn tips and tricks on how to encode multibitrate video for both live and VOD.• Planning, Building, and Launching a Video Blog—This hands-on workshop will cover the basics of planning, building, and launching a video blog. Whether you are an individual or part of a large corporation, you will learn the power of user-generated content tools for capturing, editing, and sharing video online. Attendees will get a chance to participate as we launch our own video blog during the workshop.